Becoming Human
by BlueHorizen48
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki is one of the youngest ANBU and most efficient ANBU operatives in history, but when a mission goes wrong and he's kicked off the force and has to join a Genin squad lead by his best friend Kakashi Hatake can he learn to become human, or has his violent past left him to broken to become the hero Konoha needs? Mention of PTSD and under age drinking.
1. Chapter 1

**Becoming Human**

_Chapter One; Mission Gone Awry_

Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, code name, "Fox." is the youngest ANBU member in Konoha history and one of the most decorated Ninja in the village. His years of service turned him into a cold cynical inhuman force of death, but when the Hokage demands him to join a Genin team under his best friend Kakashi Hatake he slowly realizes that there is a lot in life that he's been missing.

**Bold: **New setting, end of chapter, or physical sound.

_Italics: Internal thoughts, quotation of other characters, and emphasis of word._

**Chapter One.**

Fox stood with his arms crossed outside of a tavern, his face was scrunched up in a scowl: his damn age had him playing look out for Dog who was currently inside trying to lure their target, Mitsuki Naomi, an rank A missing-nin who had turned to attacking merchants moving across the border into the Fire Country. The Third Hokage wanted his best duo to take care of the problem due to the fact that it would soon become an international crisis if they did nothing to protect foreign merchants from nations that had strong diplomatic relations with Konoha.

Her band of pirates were easy enough to take down as they had gathered up into one camp outside of the town which made them quick and easy targets. It had been an unforeseen obstacle to have Naomi take a smaller band of her men out into the town to drink and harass. Her pyschological profile listed her weakness to seduction as a useful tool that could be used to change the setting into their terms.

Dog had ten minutes to lure the lot of them out so they could spring his trap. Time was running low, soon he might have to engage within the tavern, stealth had been a prior priority but with his comrade possibly at risk they might have to be loud. Four more minutes until he made an offensive move.

**Crshhh! **

Fox felt a strong jet of air as Dog was propelled through the wall of the tavern. He looked to see a _pissed _woman with brown hair and brown eyes dressed up in clothing that he would expect from a pirate of the seas, her eyes looked down at Dog who was sitting on his ass, still transformed to avoid cover. "Show your mask you perverted ANBU!" She screeched at him, and within moments the jutsu wore off leaving Dog with his mask on and his silver hair blown back.

Naruto knew very well about her elemental affinity for air blades. He began to process his next move before a gruff voice interrupts, "Give it up you Konoha scum! You make one more move and the bartender gets it!" a Pirate spoke loudly with a blade held to a young woman's throat. Fox looked to his partner, "Fox, you handle the hostage situation and any other Pirates scattered throughout here, some are amongst the townspeople. I have Naomi." he nods before taking a glance at the hostage holder. It wouldn't be the first time someone took a hostage and tried to bargain. Dog took off away from the town and the enraged woman made chase. It would be simpler now that he didn't have to worry about stray air blades decapitating him when he tried to take down this fool. He knew there would be time to meet up once he took care of this and the stragglers left behind.

It would only take a simple sleight of hand and if he could cause a momentary loss of focus he could easily replace the hostage with a shadow clone and swiftly take the bastard down. He scanned the inside of the bar noticing three unconscious men lying on the floor next to the bar stools where they had likely been sitting before Dog attacked.

"Look; this ends one of two ways. You leave in a body bag or you let hostage go and I might only break those teeth out of your head." Unbeknownst to the hostage holder he had made the hand signs to form his clone which stood directly behind him and quickly darted behind a nearby pillar and gradually creeping closer until he took the form of one of the unconscious Pirates.

"Big talk from a small runt, your village must be truly pathetic if they consider you an elite Shinobi." Fox knew that the swap had already been made. His clone had used the replacement jutsu alongside his transformation jutsu in order to swap the girl from the clone who was now on the floor, unconscious and away from the mad man. He took a step forward, the thug drew his sword closer to the throat of the clone, "Watch it! I know you can move fast but if you even move her from my blade now you might as well have killed her yourself."

Naruto vanished from sight of the Pirate, who knew all too much that his leverage was of no use, "You're killing her kid!" he drove the sword into the neck of who he thought was the bartender, but within seconds a puff of smoke blinded him as a fist collided with the cheek of the Pirate sending him into the wall behind him, a loud audible crunch could be heard as the Pirate hit the wall, signifying the instant kill.

The girl awoke to the sound and looked to his emotionless mask that hid an emotionless face; he was all too used to being looked at as a monster in his very short civilian life before he'd begun training for his role in the service under the Hokage. This wasn't the first time he'd killed, and it almost certainly wouldn't be the last time he killed, after all in a brutal world like this one the good people needed monsters to fight the battles that they never could to allow people like this girl to continue on living with a clean conscience. Dog had told him on the very first mission they had together after he completed his training that the path of a Shinobi like him would be one of committing some of the most henious acts in the name of a greater good. It was that motto that he lived by and after his very first kill on that same mission, which much like this one involved a hostage situation in which the person they were protecting had been captured.

Naruto always took a back seat from then on out as the boy who had been one of the most bright hearted individuals had to become something...inhuman to complete his duty and live within his mind without falling into insanity. The very spirit within him became the inspiration for his mask; the symbolic face of the monster he had been born with took control when he became Fox. To him Naruto only existed as his true mask, a cover that would protect the knowledge of his work from anyone who knew the blonde haired prankster that is a nobody at the Academy.

A arrow soared towards Fox, aimed directly at his head, but moments before it hit a fatal shot he took a side step as the arrow loged in the ground by his feet. Several men stood in front of him. "Hold it kid! We've got you surrounded, if you give us your mask we might not main you. After all it's safe to assume that you have quite a bounty on your head, a killer like you must have many enemies who have a heafty bounty on your head."

"In order to make an enemy that means I would have left someone _alive." _The Pirate stepped back as he felt the intensity of the last word the child spoke. It was unnatural to see a child act so...cold. Boss had told him that the men after them were some of the most effective killers on the planet, but to think that a kid would be one of them was nigh incomprehensible.

"Before you make a decision you might regret, do know that you will have a hard time stopping all of us from ending that girl that you killed one of our best men over. Despite your power you are still human, and as far as I know no human could stop every single arrow we've got from ending her life."

"I stopped being a man when I put on this mask. Try me, and I will kill you all with your own arrows." A bluff, sure, but they just needed to feel a little bit more fear. Scare tactics were used heavily against civilian-level targets, after all when they could barley understand what was happening the mean man in the mask seemed like a god like figure that made the legends of the ANBU seem like ungodly dealers of death.

Fox estimated that he could have all these men disarmed in ten seconds and dead within the next ten. He flung a storm of kunai in all directions. This act caused the Pirates to attempt to release their arrows in a swarm meant to kill everything in the broken husk of the tavern, but the strings from every single bow had been cut. With a second wave of kunai the men lay dead or dying. One tried to look up, "Save me...please. I could open the secret box where we keep all of the money the gang has, just let me go." Fox tilts his head. "You cannot buy me out."

"_Every _man has a price. There is plenty saved, you can have anything."

"Like I said; _when I wear this mask I am no man_." He walked down to finish the man off with a simple burst of chakra to the forehead, killing him instantly. The eyes of a terrified town were all drawn on him as they looked on with the same eyes that he'd been used to seeing his entire life. They looked at their savior with terror, he was okay with that, he was content with being the necessary evil to do good.

He trusted that Dog could handle Naomi on his own, but Fox knew that if the two worked together that it would be a cleaner take down. He turned in the direction that Dog had directed the fight in and left in a blur, leaving behind the chaos of what should have been a stealth take down.

When he happened upon them the results were _not _good. Fox watched as Kakashi stood in front of not one, but two Pirates with his clothes slashed and small scratches across his body. "Fox, the second one is her brother, Atari Naomi, also A-Ranked Missing-nin. He has an affinity for water based attacks. Proceed with extreme caution."

Behind the mask Fox narrowed his eyes; this was more than a simple coincidence. The gangs movements had been tracked consistently since reports of raids began and they never had any report of two A-ranked Missing-nin traveling together. This indicated two things: one that there was a traitor who had funneled information to the enemies so they could prepare, and two that this mission had become immensely more dangerous.

"Really? That's what you call back up? A brat?" Atari laughs, "I got the kid, Naomi, you can clean up the hound." Fox knew that their overconfidence gave him an immediate advantage. Most people were downright terrified of him, while others didn't take him seriously enough. The advantage of the mind was a key advantage in every engagement, by treating any opponent with the respect their skills have earned, while making them underestimate him he could gain that advantage.

Kakashi nodded to him before sizing up against Mitsuki, "Time to die you damn mutt!" the Copy-Nin smirks as he does several hand signs before touching the ground, which immediately crashes the ground in beneath her.

Mitsuki had thought the attack little other than a distraction until something took hold of her ankle and clamped on tight. Kakashi took the opportunity to jump down to her level and look her in the eye. "Tell me who you got your information from. There is no way that you could have called for your brother without a rat tipping you off to our presence."

"Fuck you!"

"Oh, he likes that you said that!" The dog's bite grew even tighter. "I am specialized in the art of torture, it was one of my greatest strengths back in the war when I had to get vital information out of captives, maybe I will paralyze you with one simple blow to the back of the neck. Your only way out is to tell me what I want to know, _now._"

Mitsuki began to laugh at his threat; this fool really thought his pooch could keep her down for long? A jet of expelled from her body as she shot up from the crater. Kakashi followed suit as he pulled down his mask to show his Sharingan. The woman shot a solid blade of air out at him, almost instinctively he dodges the lethal attack. Soon multiple were fired off at him as he avoids every single blade. "_She shouldn't have much chakra left. For an A-rank she is very careless in her approach."_

In that moment he fully understood the trap that had been played as Kakashi felt a deep pressure within his body. "You fool! The blades were merely a decoy! I knew that you dodge each of my attacks using that eye of yours, but you never realized that you were breathing in air with my chakra in it."

A small smile played across Kakashi's face, despite the pressure. He began to heat up the extra air within his lungs as he exhaled a giant fire ball at Mitsuki who stood with a look of shock at what she saw, the ball sending her back as her clothing burns from the extreme heat of his attack. "Your air only made my fire more powerful." Mitsuki glares at him before forming a ball of condensed air in her hands before releasing a fierce cyclone at him.

Dog dodged the initial attack with ease, but within seconds it made a sharp cut back in his direction, which lead to Kakashi flipping over the attack. "_I see it's tracking me." _the cyclone came to a stop and began returning to him at a fast pace, but this time when tried to dodge he couldn't move! A quick glance down to his ankles revealed to have frozen in place. He tried to crack the ice, but the mark he made had almost completely vanished before he could make another move.

Atari stood smiling at his sisters attack as it grew closer to the troublesome ANBU operative. His own battle had been put on pause as he had spawned a mass of clones to keep the boy busy. He had been surprised by the boy's lethality and cunning, an opponent that he quickly realized he could no longer underestimate when a kunai had been put into his stomach, but he saw how his sister was failing against the older ANBU agent and knew that if he provided no help that she was almost certainly dead. Her razorwind jutsu when used in combination with his permafrost jutsu had been a valuable quick kill technique that they used to dispose of Shinobi who tried to stop them in the past they had no chance to break his permafrost as it stole chakra from those it bound.

"Don't forget about _me_." A kunai plunged itself into Atari's side as he broke focus on his jutsu as Fox pulled the blade out before jamming it back into his side. The Pirate howls in pain before using his chakra to form razor water droplets they were partially sharpened into sharp points and slashing the boy across the chest as blood began to leak from the long scratches his attack made. "H-How many damn kunai could this kid be keeping in that uniform?"

Kakashi felt the chakra hold from Atari break as he then broke out of the ice just as the wind slashed the ground and grass into pieces. He then vanished before reappearing behind Mitsuki and grabbing her arms as the attack began to return to the source. "Let go of me! You're killing us both!"

His grip on her arms only increased before a loud snap was heard. "You're not going to avoid this, enjoy your final moments." Her eyes widen as the cyclone races towards them at a brisk pace, and within seconds it was right on top of them as she felt a kick in the back which propelled her directly into the cyclone.

The Copy-nin flips completely out of the way as the chakra tornado began to dissipate as it's user left the world of the living. Before he could do anything else, his body became caught within a fierce globe of water which within seconds froze up to his neck. "You will die for that!"

Fox, who was gripped by a rough torrent of water saw an opportunity in the man's loss of focus, he then began to struggle to no avail against the water around him as it grips even tighter against his resistance. "I take it the kid might mean something to you? I will pierce him through the heart for killing my sister while you stay there and wait to die."

The younger ANBU loosens up and begins to think; if he wanted to break free he would have to somehow break his opponent's concentration and chakra flow with an attack, but the distance he was held at was too far away and his arms were held. He could always use Dog's special technique...but that would likely fry them both considering the water was in contact with them both and it would be hard to survive such a shock. He looked over at his comrade and began to think of all the missions they'd been on together since he picked him up off the street that one fateful night after he'd been beaten to a bloody pulp. _You gave me a purpose...and a friend. I wish you well, Dog._

A ball of electricity formed in his hand as the water began to freeze and move towards his body at a frightening pace. Fox struggles to reach the water with the pressure on his body heightening, but he gets close enough that his attack makes full contact with the water and travels both directions of the stream, into Atari and Fox, tearing the ice into pieces as both fall to the ground within seconds and Kakashi then breaks out of his icey prison and immediately turns his focus onto his partner. He puts an ear to the boy's chest and hears no traces of a heartbeat. _"DAMN IT!_ You knew that would kill you, didn't you? You shouldn't have done that..."

There was no time to think as Kakashi formed his own version of the Chidori and lightly pressed it to his chest, giving his heart a necessary jolt. He quickly put his ear to the boy's chest again and breathed a deep sigh of relief when he hears a faint heartbeat. "_I never thought I'd be thankful for that demon in his stomach, but it should take care of much of the damage done."_

He felt an urge to kill that son of a bitch, Danzo who had influenced the Hokage into allowing a ten year old into ANBU. Kakashi could remember clear as day when he picked the boy up off the street and brought him to see the Hokage, and how Danzo _cared soooo much_ about Naruto's safety that making him into a warrior just like Itachi and Kakashi before him was the only way for him to ever be able to survive in a village that hated him.

The heavily influenced vote amongst council members made it hard for the Hokage to say no lest he risk descent amongst the ranks within the council if they viewed him incompetent and moved to replace him at the head of the village. Everyone knew the true motive was to provoke to Hokage into such a move so that the cowardly scum that was Danzo could make a play for the position.

The council had been ruled by their emotions and had hoped that making the boy a forced conscript in ANBU would eventually get him and the Kyuubi killed while keeping him out of the village as much as possible.

The Hokage knew that it was a trap and decided to compromise as opposed to fighting back and being deposed, so the decree had been made that it would be an S-ranked secrete that a boy like Naruto was serving in the ANBU and that the boy would be trained by the only one he could trust: Kakashi Hatake. It was from that moment on that Kakashi had taught the boy much of what he knew and with a whole year of training he got the boy up to par with some of the best in the ANBU, with of course having the chakra of a demon to bolster his already natural talent.

"Dah..." The now conscious thirteen year old weakly exclaims as he looks into his red eye. "Wha happend?" the older man sat in silence for a second. "You died, I restarted your heart and the Kyuubi did the rest. We need to leave before any more of them crawl out of the wood work, I'll take care of confirming our mission success."

The boy's vision became hazy again and within moments he fell back unconscious. Kakashi sighs; things might be worse than he realized. "What have they done to you."

**Konoha **

_1 Week Later_

Naruto awoke with a stiff feeling all over his body, quickly noticing the flow of air touching his skin he raises his hand to his face. "_Where is my mask?_" He internally asks and almost as if Kakashi had been reading his mind the older man speaks, "It's gone, you're in a hospital back in Konoha." the boy shrieks. "How long have I been out if we're already back here?"

"One week...I have something important to talk to you about, with an order directly from the Hokage himself." Naruto nods to him before Kakashi starts, "Your career in ANBU is over, as is mine. Lord Hokage ordered it to be so on the account of an unforeseen heart defect as a result from an unhealthy amount of stress that lead to heart failure on our last mission."

"_WHAT? _I have no heart defect, do I l? The Fox would _never _let such a thing happen." Kakashi shakes his head, "You're done because it's the perfect time for you to be done. You've outlived our expected life expectancy several times over and now you've had a medical incident that should please the sadistic bastard Danzo into letting you off the hook...for now. Frankly, I agree because you should have never had to live such a life in peacetime, you shouldn't have to be the man who has the blood of at least a hundred men of different backgrounds on your hands."

"_No_...They need us more than ever; why do you think they sent the best team in the ANBU to handle a missing-nin who was doing nothing but raiding border towns? Because everyone else is looking for an excuse to invade and kill us all! War is right here and I can tell it's always a matter of time before the whole thing will blow up, and when it does they will need us more than ever."

"Your logic might be true, but that doesn't change that in order for you to serve in a military war you need to understand what you are fighting for and why you're killing. Otherwise you might crack under the pressure, and then you're no help to anyone. If you have nothing to live for then you won't."

"So then what do you want me to do? Try and make friends in a village that hates me?"

"The Hokage and I have talked about the matter and we've already come to an agreement on what you need to do: soon you will take the final exam at the Academy and when you pass—which should be easier than breathing for a Shinobi of your level—then you will be placed on my Genin team and be a cute little student and help old ladies walk dogs and repair houses for flood victims!"

"What? I'm already way past that!"

"Sure you are, but that isn't the goal: you're supposed to be making new friends. I'll tell you what: you can have one pick of _anyone_ in your class to be our third team member."

"Anyone but Sasuke."

"Okay other than that one."

"You got him, didn't you?"

"Had too; I'm the only one with a Sharingan eye who can train the boy."

"So I'm going from assasinations and espionage to making friends with a bunch of borderline civies and a Uchiha with an ego that's bigger than his body?"

"Yup, it's gonna be great."

"Kill me."

"Why would I do that when I tried so hard to bring you back?"

"..."

"Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, have fun and if you bomb the test on purpose it just means that I'm gonna have make up an embarrassing lie about how you passed."

"_Shit."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Becoming Human**

_Chapter Two: The Masks We Wear_

**_Review Responses: _**

Guest: **The Council are the same people that make up the village, just acting in association with each other to make political choices, and of course they'd have a grudge against Naruto and their inability to emphasize with him made them view him as a weapon. The part of the first chapter you were referencing was also from the perspective of a jaded Kakashi, who was rightfully pissed off that a boy was turned into an ANBU drone so early in life, during an era of peace.**

WindyCitySlayer1: **Thanks for your support.**

Void: **Thank you.**

Girrr: **Huh? Thanks for the review.**

**One Day Later.**

Naruto ripped the cap off the last bottle of beer in his fridge, downing the forbidden drink within mere seconds before tossing said bottle in a rather large pile of bottles next to him. If anyone knew what he did on his spare time if it wasn't for the damn demon within his gut clearing the alcohol out of his system at a super rate then he'd never pass a psych exam. At age 13 Naruto has a rather long laundry list of issues which include: depression, alcoholism, and a mild case of PTSD to top it all off.

In the hours since his forced discharge from ANBU had been spent coping with the loss of the one thing that gave him purpose, the one thing the _damn_ that shut the fucking demon in his stomach up, and now he had to get ready for a nice day of playing ninja with a bunch of borderline civvies who thought they were oh so special. The thoughts of stepping into that place made him want to try that dying thing again. At least then he didn't have to face his own problems in a room full of brats, nope the seconds of peace he had when he went under were a blessing in comparison to having to go back being Naruto Uzumaki; village idiot or village monster depending who you asked.

Iruka wasn't bad; they shared some type of bond, but as a man who didn't know how to handle a relationship that wasn't with Dog, who was basically a grown up version of Naruto so they remained acquaintances for the foreseeable future. Other than that he had never been close to any of his classmates other than to rope them in for a prank to test the limits of his strategic prowess, while keeping up the masquerade of a ball of Orange energy that could bounce about forever.

His alarm rang, meant to awake him in time to get ready for school, but Naruto groggily stood up and grabbed a beer bottle and threw it at the annoying alarm which caused immense pain to his brain which was already thinking at a pace far beyond the speed his neurons could function at. Naruto walks into his bathroom before turning on the water to the shower which began to warm up. He shed his clothing and bristled at the cold air touching his skin which was covered in scars that had been too deep to heal in their entirety.

He took a step into the now warm water, taking a deep breath as he felt the heat massage his tired muscles. His mind began to focus, though just slightly lessening his physical pain.

"_You damn well know that you could never have friends like that old fool wants: your hands are soaked to the bone in the blood of your enemies, both foreign and the villagers we had much fun slaughtering all those years ago."_

"Shut up." Naruto weakly responded to the Kyuubi, he knew all too well the game the bastard fox was trying to do by playing on insecurities. Normally he didn't even bother replying to the demon's attempts at making life hell for his captor, but this time he simply didn't want to hear the bitching and restatement of facts he knew to be true.

**"_Insolent pest! One day when you give into me and I will use your own hands to rip the village that you love so much to shreds. I wonder how Kakashi will feel when he sees the brat that he brought back would be the one who ripped his spine out of his body!"_**

_"_Stupid Fox; he'd be dead when you do that, _duh_." Naruto smirks at the little witty jab, "Besides if you went anywhere near him he'd probably sick his dogs on you and we both know how you feel about dogs." he grabs soap and begins to clean his body as small traces of red line the drain as the blood of the men he killed that had come to dry on his hair.

His response seems to have silenced the demon's excessive chatter, but Naruto knew that the creature would be back at him tonight when he finally went to sleep when he would go through a particularly gruesome session of memories and nightmares as a repercussion for wounding the _poor _little Kyuubi's ego. He'd get back at it anyways by putting the creature to work extra hard to purge the alcohol from his system that he'd drink to stop said issues from reappearing in his dreams.

What would he do now? Not having anything but Genin-level work and training with Kakashi and the team with the annoying Uchiha bastard would leave a huge opening in his schedule. Normally he had little time to be concerned with anything outside of sleeping and messing around in the Academy before being sent off on another mission and practicing the techniques with actual Shinobi. Now...he had nothing but a demon, a drinking problem, and time to look forward to. As sick as it made him he had to start thinking of something else he could do to fill the time in his life so that the demon could be pushed down into the prison within himself and he could have a semblance of control over his own body.

He shut off the water and steps out of the shower while grabbing a towel and using it to dry off his skin before walking back into his room and grabbing another orange jumpsuit. Naruto had plenty of the same shirt, after all the expectation of him was to be the same hopeful goofball that people didn't get close to due to the fact that he'd annoy them to death if they ever got close enough.

Soon he began to fantasize about what it'd be like if he could just loose all restraint and let his classmates know about the _real_ Naruto Uzumaki. Man, Sasuke might have a mental breakdown if he found out that dead last was actually a Jonin level killing machine capable of beating him in a single move as if he were a civilian, then maybe he'd learn some damn humility instead of his weird inferiority/superiority complex thing going on.

Unfortunately, some things are better in fantasy land, opposed to in practice: if he gave into such impulses his cover would be blown and before he knew it he would be a missing-nin under a new pseudonym, leading choice of which would be Wasabi—he still didn't know why he'd come up with that—and then he'd likely be exterminated by Kakashi. That didn't sit well with him as giving the smug sonofabitch the honor of killing him, only because he knew that Kakashi would use the rather large sum of money he'd get on his porn. It didn't sit well at all to have known that he lived an entire life just so that Kakashi could spend the blood money from his head on more of those perverted books he used as his emotional cover.

In about ten minutes Naruto collected everything he'd need for the day and began the walk from his apartment to the Academy. Within minutes he could feel the burning gazes of the people who hated him more than anything as Naruto pretended not to see the emotional impact he still held on people he never knew and would likely never end up knowing. As was the life of Naruto Uzumaki, and it made him miss the anonymity of his mask all the more as Fox was figure who had the full respect of anyone around him or they were dumb enough to not know any better and ended up losing lives, body parts, or sanity.

Soon the Academy became apparent as did his classmates who stood together in two groups, one lead by a bunch of fangirls harassing the Uchiha—which he had no sympathy for—and the other group being the entire male population and a few girls like Hinata who couldn't be bothered with approaching Sasuke, whether it be due to shyness or the fact that they could see through the boy and know that he was just a little shit in an even smaller bowl. The second wasn't likely but he had hoped that one day some girl would be smart enough to see that, hell he could marry a girl who had the brainpower to see through Mr. Dark and Brooding's facade to see the pathetic child for what he was.

All of a sudden he could feel the gazes of almost every single student turn to him, "Naruto! I'm shocked they even let you back into the Academy after Iruka threw that fit after you drew on his face with that permanent marker." the boy Kiba praised him with a proud glint in his eye. "You got him real paranoid now; he always drinks coffee in the middle of the day now, you should check it out he still has the same mustache you drew."

It was always fun when Naruto would get suspended from one of his pranks whenever he knew he had a long mission that would take him out of the village. Of course Iruka knew the whole time and begrudgingly played his part in keeping a cover story that would make sense as to why Naruto would be absent from the Academy for sometimes weeks at a time. They had an unspoken competition going on to see how many pranks Iruka could thwart and how many Naruto could execute to perfection. It was a childish battle of wits at times, and others a true test of Naruto's training in stealth, deception, and trickery when he'd plan on how execute a prank like a military operation.

"Why don't you flock to the loser...he looks desperate enough to listen to you grovel." Sasuke exclaims to the crowd of girls that crowd his personal bubble. To be frank he was glad for the excuse, but he also wanted to give the idiot a taste of his own medicine since all the girls together could _almost_ be as loud and annoying as Naruto when they flock together.

Naruto, who still felt a little drunk sighs, "Can you not? It's still a little early for the shrieking, besides I'm starting to think that you're gay since you don't want to talk to your little fanclub." Immediately it was as if Naruto had just gone deaf all of a sudden before the rage of a bunch of fangirls began to bubble over as he was surrounded by shrieking women. "...what did I do? Oh God, make it stop."

"Be quiet!" Sasuke speaks up as he moves to the front of the group. "Did I really hear that from the idiot who doesn't even know what chakra is?" The fangirls begin to squeal and shriek in glee at their man standing up to Naruto, "We could go right here right now." the blonde offers.

Sasuke slips out into his stance before throwing a punch at Naruto, who caught the fist and then slipped it behind Sasuke's back, and he then pinned the boy to the ground, helpless as all the girls look on with shock.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Sakura."

"I don't know, Ino, because what I'm seeing looks impossible..." The girl looks at Naruto and notices the completely new air around him as if he was a completely different person...not the foolish, but constantly happy boy she had remembered. It had only been two weeks since the incident with the marker, and now Naruto was handing Sasuke his ass.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Iruka exclaims as he opens the door to see Naruto pinning the subdued Uchiha while straining on the dark-haired boy's arm. "Let him go and go to my Office, NOW!"

Everyone stood in shock as Naruto let go of the arm and stood up while walking casually into the Academy as Sasuke looked to Iruka, "You come too; I have no doubt that you had something to do with this." the other boy growls and follows Naruto in as Iruka closes the door leaving a bewildered crowd of students coming to terms with what just happened.

"Is it just me or is Naruto actually kinda cute now."

"You too?"

"Nah, he's just another meathead that drew poor Sasuke down to his level!"

"...I'm just glad that that troublesome Sasuke got shown his place." Shikamaru exclaims to the group of guys who all grinned like it was Christmas aside from the Nara boy who stood apathetic as ever to the situation outside of the small bit of satisfaction at the cocky son of a bitch getting shown up by dead last Naruto Uzumaki. It actually made him feel like he could do something similar as the other dead-last just above Naruto, though it was only because of his vice of loving sleep way too much to be invested in much more than he had to."

Kiba smiles, "Once Naruto broke up the monopoly on the girls that means that we have a chance now!" he looks at the other guys who look somewhat confused until Sakura looks over at them. "Yeah right! It was probably just a trick! Naruto could never challenge Sasuke in a fair fight."

The boy shakes his head, "No way! How could you watch that and say he used a trick? Sasuke got flat out dominated and that doesn't happen with a trick, and it's not like you got any proof." the girl scoffs. "Of course he can! I'll find proof if you want to bet on that! When I do you should have to eat that stupid coat!"

"A bet? You're on! If you can't get proof before the exams it means you owe me a kiss."

Sakura balks at the request: dog breath? No way, but internally she knew that she had too much pride to give in and back down.

"Fine! I'll even bring you some wasabi to eat with it since you seem to be a glutton for pain!"

"I don't even know what _glutton_ means!"

"Of course you don't know, DOG BREATH!"

"PINKIE."

"...This is all too troublesome."

"SHUT UP SHIKAMARU!"

"What a bunch of drags you guys are."

Ino glances at her very angry friend/love rival with a confused expression on her face, "Uhhhh, Sakura?" she turns back to Ino, "What!" she exclaims still slightly heated from her debate with Kiba. "How are you going to convince Naruto to tell you that he cheated? I mean he isn't exactly gonna be honest with it."

Sakura pales at the comment; if she wanted to win the bet—which she _definitely _wanted to do—she would need to actually spend time with the boy and convince him to confess. She quickly thought of all her options before blushing at the thought of the only one that made any sort of sense.

"...I might have to go on one of those dates that Naruto has been bothering me for every single day." She turns her head from Ino, who she for sure knew would laugh at the thought of Sakura actually going out with the boy that most girls hadn't thought about ever asking out, much less accepting an invitation.

Ino did as Sakura had expected, bawling her eyes out as she laughed at the notion of Sakura and Naruto sitting in a restaurant somewhere as he made a fool of himself and Sakura sitting there fuming at his antics in front of everyone.

"...He better eat that shirt..." Sakura grumbled to herself while doing her best to ignore Ino's ear piercing laugh. The embarrassment ended when the door to the Academy opened and a much calmer Iruka let everyone inside.

Soon all the students began to split off into classes and taking seats as the day began as if it had been a completely normal, which to that point had been anything but.

Sakura took her normal seat and noticed that Naruto was already seated and looking a bit more happy than when she first saw him. Sasuke sat alone like always and was the opposite, far more broody than normal as he gave a death glare to anyone who sat close to him.

The class lecture for the day was a review for the final exam that would take place four days from now on Friday as Iruka and Mizuki went over the jutsus that they'd need to perform in order to be promoted to the rank of Genin and receive a Sensi on Saturday after the team distribution. Normally Sakura would be completely invested in the lesson and the ramifications that it would have on her future, but today she found herself focused on Naruto and inevitably inviting him out on a date. She _really _wanted to get him alone to do it so that everyone wouldn't make fun of her as a result of asking out the class clown.

In her intent focus on Naruto she began to notice slight differences: one was his apathy towards the lesson, which was different since he usually chimed in every once in awhile with some stupid comment in relation to the lesson or some joke, but now he was just simply completely uninterested in the lesson, and the second thing was that the review sheet had been long since filled in at the start of class, despite the due date not being until Thursday.

Before she knew it the school day had come to an end with only a few minutes left and Naruto had yet to ask his daily question that typically was _extremely _annoying, but now the absence of which now was _equally _annoying as she would have to ask Naruto herself, making things a lot more annoying then it ever had to be.

Time ended and Sakura made her way to Naruto's desk at the front of the classroom with a bright blush covering her cheeks, "...Naruto? I have a question." his bright blue eyes moved to hers, "Yes Sakura?" she twiddles her finger anxiously. "...M-maybe you'd like to go out with me to eat soon? Sometime like tonight?" His eyes widen, "Like a date?" she chokes on the words for a second. "Yes a date."

Naruto squints his eyes for a second as he begins to process this...odd request; it hadn't always been part of his cover that he had a crush on Sakura and now that she had come to _him_ asking for a date was screaming too good to be true, but at the same time he knew it wouldn't be in his best interest to turn down an offer that would make him look equally suspicious if he said no, besides he had time and figured that maybe this could figure into filling the time gap his schedule now held.

"YES!" He exclaimed a little exaggeratedly, playing up his enthusiasim with energy he barely had left in the tank after a night of exhaustion. Sakura tried to not cringe at his excitement, "When do you want to go...where do you want to go?" she questions and he doesn't even have to think about it. "Ichiraku, of course! I can go whenever you're ready!"

_"At least somebody was excited for this." _Sakura thought to herself. "Meet me at my house in two hours, I'll be out front and we can go together." She handed him a piece of paper from the side of her review. "That has my address on it and the directions you'll have to take when you get close."

Naruto took the paper and for now the two split ways as they travelled back to their respective homes. Both uncertain of the night that laid before them, and little did they know that it would be the start of something that would end up changing both...for better or worse.

**Sakura's House**

Two hours passed like nothing and Naruto found himself in the one dress suit he had for a mission that required him to act as a civilian at a wealthy teenagers birthday when the ANBU wanted to find out how his father had been running a local political machine when multiple people came to, "talk business." and to make a long story short Naruto had impaled a man with a cake knife, but that didn't matter right now.

He knocked on the door and a very aggravated Sakura stepped out in front of him as she prepared to insult him before noticing the suit he wore. "_I didn't know that Naruto even owned a suit_." She thought to herself as the boy looked relatively well done for a guy who she never knew had attended anything that would require any type of formal clothing.

"D-Did you buy that just for tonight?"

"Yup." Naruto lied. At this point the words just flew off his tongue since lying had become first nature, especially when a good lie meant the difference between life and death, there was no room for the truth. It would make him look even better, "_Why should I care about her opinion?_ _She's normally just like the rest of them!_" he would soon find out what her reasoning was for this whole experience.

"Wow...okay." Sakura exclaimed, "I appreciate the effort." she really didn't know what to expect next from him when he looked at her. "You look beautiful." Naruto exclaims and the girl fumbled over herself as she looked into his deep blue eyes as he spoke..."_Control yourself! This is Naruto! I have to defend Sasuke's honor._" she began to think of a response. "T-thank you."

The two teenagers walked together for about twenty minutes before they arrived at Ichiraku. The girl at the counter had an extremely giddy smile immediately at the sight of the the boy and girl. "Naruto, I see you've brought a friend with you! I guess things have really changed in just two weeks!" Sakura watched the interaction with much intrigue; it seemed as if Naruto had cultivated an interesting relationship with the staff.

"Yeah, this is Sakura! You know the girl I used to talk about, Ayame."

"This seems like a really special occasion, I'll tell you what, just for tonight everything is on the house." A man calls out to the boy from the kitchen space. "Thank you Mr. Teuchi!"

The girl, Ayame, handed the two menus to Sakura and Naruto as the girl began to browse the menu looking for something that looked good. Naruto, however looked content and knowing of his order. "I'll take the usual." Sakura read the menu for a minute before looking at Naruto. "What do you recommend?"

"Pork ramen is pretty good, you should try."

"I guess I'm trying something new tonight."

"_What! _You've never tried ramen?"

"Well I have, but it was a long time ago...Anyways how do you think you're going to do on that test on Friday?" Naruto smiles, "I'm going to pass, believe it. I know you will too, wouldn't it be cool if we were on a team together? We could do anything! Just like the Sannin!" a small smile crossed her face at the boy's confidence in her. It was rare that anyone showed faith in her abilities as everyone she had known up to that point was either Sasuke who had a mean streak of putting her down...even if she deserved it, a rival after his heart, or her parents who were civilians without the first clue on what being a Kunoichi meant. Almost never did she get any type of approval or a peer saying that she was worth anything, and it still felt good, despite coming from the person she least thought would be capable of making her feel this sense of pride.

"Well I am number one Kunoichi in our class for a reason." Sakura states, "I can totally prove myself to Sasuke." and almost immediately the weight of her own slip up hit her like a truck when she looked to Naruto and saw his happy look vanish and then his eyes drew to the table.

"I'm sorry, Naruto..."

"It's fine, I guess I just don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with him...it's just that he hurts everyone around him all the time and everyone comes back to him as if he was a saint that can do no wrong...I just think you deserve to be treated better than that, even if it isn't with me."

Sakura felt her cheeks flush once more at the boy's slight but true show of care for her well being. It made her feel conscious hurt all the more when she thought back on how she brutally insulted Naruto for no reason other than slight indiscretions which mostly came when she stepped in between Naruto and Sasuke. It made her process the words as she remembered every time Sasuke would kill her self esteem by calling her an idiot, ugly, and stupid...it also made her see the exact opposite in Naruto as he'd shown only respect and honesty so far...maybe it wasn't that bad that this was happening.

"I'll take the pork ramen then."

Naruto grins widely, "Good choice. I gotta go to the restroom and I'll be right back." she nods at him before starring forward with a blank gaze as she began to process the odd feelings she had begun to feel when he smiled at her.

Previously Sakura had never paid Naruto any attention because of how his personality was and her feelings for Sasuke. She'd never necessarily thought him as bad looking, moreso she had always wanted the thing that everyone wanted...maybe her competitive side confused Sakura when it came to Sasuke...

"Ms..." An old woman caught her attention, "If you want to leave right now I will pay your tab so you can leave before he comes back." Sakura felt rage build up within her, "You..._you..._how dare you ask me to do such a thing! Not only is that completely indecent and disrespectful to ask the food is already free because of _him_."

"You don't know him? Look it is better if you leave, people are staring and they notice that you're here with him. It would hurt your reputation if people started to say that you were hanging out with that _boy_."

"Let them stare! I know Naruto enough to know that he's a good guy. If that hurts my reputation so what!" Sakura by the end felt like she was confessing something to herself and accusing who she used to be as recent as the time he picked her up from her house. Damn Naruto was infectious! Her curiosity in the boy grew more and more with each second and as to why an old woman would try to get her to ditch Naruto for no good reason...was this similar to what he dealt with at the Academy? He was close to almost nobody and everyone else paid little attention to that fact and essentially left him as a lonely outcast.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Naruto marching back to the table and the old woman scurrying off at the sight of him. Sakura looks at his face and he looked as if he was completely content with the world despite her previous proclamation of love for Sasuke on a _date_.

"Naruto...do you know that woman at the table behind us?"

"No, why?"

"She came over here and offered to pay my bill so I could leave, she also said something about people staring at us and I do see people staring now..."

"Oh...p-people have never accepted me in this village. Ever since I could remember everyone avoided me like the plague or beat me as a child for no good reason. I guess that they don't like to see a girl like you associating with me."

"People used to randomly beat you in the street? Naruto how did you live through that?" It sounded unbearable to her that as a small boy that the village would attack him for no reason at all, it made more sense when she thought about the staring.

"They couldn't hurt my dream...I always wanted to be Hokage so that one day people can see me as a hero and someone that they can look up to as an example." Naruto internally knew that his dream had been impossible, but it was true that before Kakashi brought him in off the street to educate him on being a Shinobi that his dream had meant a lot to how he managed to get through childhood.

"If you want to leave, feel free. You shouldn't have to deal with the extra stuff because of me."

"...That takes guts, Naruto." Sakura looks back at the people who still watched from the corner of their vision. She felt empowered by his dream and wanted to show these bastards that kind of thing wouldn't fly. "Let's give them something to stare at. If they won't respect you then I guess I don't want respect from them either.

Sakura turned to Naruto and kissed him directly on the lips as the eyes of all the people looking at the two, as did Ayame's eyes as she turned to view the display with the bowls of ramen. The girl almost dropped both before steadying herself and giving a very proud smile at the sight.

Naruto felt the full shock of what just happened while internally debating whether or not that the kiss was a blessing or curse yet. The part that was a teenager's heart fluttered as the most attractive girl in his agegroup had done what he had thought impossible.

And the night was still young.

**Chapter Two End**

**Here is the start of the romance portion of the story, but as of now it's a one sided thing to a degree. Naruto still has problems of his own to deal with and the fact that he is a very good liar and Sakura is into the mask he wears in public with no clue as to the baggage he comes with. The kiss was half and half a romantic gesture and flipping off the people who discriminate against Naruto, but we will definitely see this part of the story get further elaboration as the rest of the date is covered and how Sakura has a different view of Naruto.**

**I thank you guys for the support I got on the story so please do keep it up and I will try to work on my next chapter and have it done ASAP. **

**If you have any thoughts or suggestions feel free to leave me a review as it's my favorite part of uploading a chapter and finding out how other people feel about my work and what they think that I could do better. **

**As you saw at the top I want to reply to all the reviews I receive at the top of the previous chapter until the amount becomes too vast to handle all of which and even then I will respond to common questions in order to avoid running on and elongating things for little reason.**

**As for the content of reviews I would appreciate actual comments about events in the story, quality, and plot lines as opposed to two word responses.**

**Thank you, and have a good day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Becoming Human**

_Chapter 3: Scars._

**Apologies for the lack of a Review Response section. I had done one prior but then I lost the file and honestly there is only one claim I want to contest which is the Sasuke thing. This will not be a bashing-fic, it's about development and Sasuke will be developed and the characters around him who currently have negative opinions will also be developed. It's just at this stage now that people that you see the story through see him in a rather poor light, which is true for his character especially at the start of part one of the original series.**

**Immediately after Chapter Two**

"_She doesn't love **you**. How could she? You're hiding behind a mask, **Fox.**" _

Naruto felt a great many different emotions after..._the kiss_. Most of which were directly hormonal, and the rest were just _confusing_. How did this all happen so quickly? One second the girl couldn't stand to be around his civilian personality one second did that...

"So how was it, Naruto?"

He slipped back into character, "_Amazing..."_ he almost whispered to himself, but making sure it was just high enough for Sakura to hear, and subsequently blushed at the compliment.

"Here you guys go." Ayame placed two bowls in front of both teenagers. The two each take a little before Naruto gives a smirk of his own, "How is it?" Sakura tilts her head back and forth before her eyes met his. "Not bad, not bad at all."

Naruto was a puzzle to Sakura; he was possibly the single most unique person that she knew: he acted like no other, he had a entire backstory that she didn't know much else about other than he was the village's number one prankster, he was unusually happy at almost all times, and that for whatever reason the entire village had something against him.

"So Naruto, what do you do on your free time?" She asked, hoping to begin to understand who exactly Naruto Uzumaki is.

"Uhhh, I mostly train, have a garden, and cook." Naruto decided that she didn't need to know that his other main activity at home was getting drunk until he would piss in the small garden that he maintained. That seemed like a socially uncouth thing to do.

"Gardening? I never thought that Naruto Uzumaki would be the gardening type."

"Well if I'm going to be Hokage one day that means I should be able to care for and mantain every single person in a village, and in a way my garden is like practice, although plants and people have much different needs...It also doesn't help that I don't have very much money."

Being in ANBU did not afford very many luxuries; if the ANBU were paid wages it would create a paper trail for any accountant to travel down when a fixed income rate would become unexplainable. This would effectively allow any financial expert to sell off the secret identities of agents to any foreign villages or bounty hunters who have it out for some of the most notorious members like Fox and Dog, who were globally known and had bounties in the millions in certain places where they acted.

The Hokage kept his head above water with a monthly allowance, but the sum was enough to pay all the bills, but his little...drinking problem was a costly one. So growing his own food made things more cost effective to live off of as opposed to buying new stuff when he could just recycle a fixed amount back into the earth and eat with the only price being time and the occasional supplies he'd need to keep his garden alive.

"How do you afford to live on your own? You work or something after school?" Sakura asked with her curiosity peaked once more by the mention of his economic situation; it wasn't every day that a kid was capable of living completely alone while attending school.

"Nah, Old Man Hokage gives me a monthly allowance and I technically own the house—or at least I will whenever I pass the graduation exams—and that's what I use to keep everything running since...y'know..."

It wasn't a lie that most people looked down on the boy because of his lack of parents, whether it be because of jealousy that he could have an entire place of his own already, or the fact that some people viewed him as unruly because of his lack of parents which lead to an unstructured life that turned him into some kind of wild child. Sakura had been in the second party at some times whenever she saw him get into trouble over a stupid prank.

"...Naruto what is it with you and your pranks? What makes you do the things you do? Maybe if you didn't do that people would think differently of you."

"I do those things _because _it makes people think of me. Before I became the best prankster in the whole village I was viewed with nothing but contempt, because of what I am, and then they would just ignore me all the time until I went away. My pranks make people notice that I'm even alive, if it wasn't for them then I would get no recognition at all...sometimes it's better to bother people than be alone."

"You keep mentioning people hating you for what you are...I don't get it, why do so many hate you, even when you were a little kid?"

Naruto weighed his options on whether or not he could tell her the truth of his origins, because on one hand if she hated him like the rest that would be proof enough that he could stop whatever this was before things got too far. On the other he feared her having some type of public freakout and making everything go sideways.

Maybe he owed her one truth since everything so far he's said was to a degree a lie, maybe it was best to let her in on what she was getting into by interacting with him, and the protections of the law in place made it difficult for sharing said secret to come back and bite him in the ass due to the threat of execution, and It's not like one more person thinking he was a monster would change things all that much...despite the gut feeling that he felt like this one would hurt more than any other time someone would give him that sickening look that had become all too familiar with in life. "_If she reacts negatively then I will have all the proof that the Hokage's plan was impossible from the start. Maybe he will reinstate me into ANBU."_

"...What I'm about to tell you is one of the most protected secrets in the entire village. S-class and if you tell the younger generations of this secret it comes with a penalty of death."

"You're joking, r-right? E-execution? What could possibly be that bad."

Naruto looks in her eyes, "Before I tell you I have one question: do you think that I'm a monster...freak...or _demon_." she shakes her head. "You're a little...odd, but you probably have the purest of heart of anyone I know."

"The night I was born was the same night that the Kyuubi attacked our village, and my father and mother died that very same night, but the Yondaime had managed to defeat the Kyuubi...by sealing the spirit within my newborn self. People have blamed me for that night ever since I could remember...I was burned, beaten, starved, and..."

Sakura felt moisture beginning to develop in her eyes as the story of why Naruto was so publicly hated became all too clear. She went to put her hand on his shoulder in support when she realized that he was hyperventilating and tears began to pool out of his eyes.

"Naruto?"

She lightly shook his shoulder, "Are you okay? P-please say something!" he even further tensed up at her touch as his eyes watched an invisible movie. "P-please, don't do it...you're hurting me."

Sakura knew all too well from the many books she's read that what was going on was a full blown PTSD episode. Naruto right now was trapped in a moment of great trauma that was caused by the fact that he was the unwilling host for a monster that had been gone as long as Naruto had been alive.

Her anger soon shifted to the place she had always called home. How could they have done that to a small child? It was obvious that the Kyuubi had almost zero effect on him in day to day life and as far as she was concerned he was just like everyone else in the village. Their actions were flat out disgusting and it made her actually repulsed by the idea that the people who lived right next door to her could have allowed this to happen.

"Naruto...calm down, nobody is hurting you, it's only your friend Sakura and we're at Ichiraku on a date...breathe, it's over."

His eyes which were now blood red reacted to the stimulus of her voice. "S-Sakura?" He almost rasps out with his voice hoarse she gives him a reassuring smile. "It's only me, do you mind if I touch you? I heard it makes it better...when something like that happens."

Naruto could barely move, but he was able to give her a small nod as she wrapped her arm around his back. The old woman from before stood up and walked to the counter and spoke, "I have had enough of this indecent conduct, please ask these two to take this elsewhere so my family and I can enjoy our meal?" Sakura looked at her with the intensity of a thousand suns in her glare. She took glanced back at Naruto before realizing that screaming would probably make things a lot worse for him.

"We were just leaving." Sakura coldly drawls out as she managed to get Naruto out of his seat as she began to guide him away from the bitch who tried to leverage a PTSD episode against someone who was just trying to have a good time.

Ayame, who had been silent in order to provide a quiet for Naruto to calm down gave an angry glare. "Go away, we no longer want your business here ever again, if you decide not to take your food and leave we can contact the authorities."

**With Naruto and Sakura**

"It's gonna be okay...just breathe, keep breathing." Sakura held him upright as she tried to get him to snap out of his memory. "Do you have a place to go when you have memories?"

"T-The Yondaime head..." Sakura would normally be against climbing a monument to Konoha's greatest hero but if Naruto didn't snap out of this panic soon he would be at risk of a complete mental breakdown.

Within a few minutes the large faces of the Hokage became very apparent and Sakura spoke to Naruto in the calmest possible tone. "You can make it up there right?" Naruto again have a small nod to her as she finally removed her arm and leapt up to the top of the monument.

She sat on the head and outstretched her hand, but Naruto took a moment to steady himself before jumping up and it seemed as if he ignored her gesture. He then sat down next to her and began to gaze of into the horizon.

The view was astonishing: the vibrant sunset colored the village in a way she had never seen before. Sakura looked back into Naruto's eyes and saw the beautiful reflection within the bright blue irises. His breath had slowed down and he looked somewhat at peace.

"You feeling better?

Slowly Naruto began to recall all that happened as his mind began to rebound from the onslaught of memories from his time before he dawned the mask. His anger over the fact that he had allowed himself get caught up in a place that he had never intended to delve back into. That place was one that reminded him of being a helpless child once more, one that adults would exploit for their own sick needs. He hated that part of himself so much that he trained harder than his body could handle back when he was first brought into ANBU by Kakashi, just so that the weak boy inside of him would finally have died like he should have on that _day_.

"Naruto, you're doing it again. Please look at me."

His hands had lightly begun to shake again before he looked back at her. "You'll be okay, alright? This view is wonderful." Naruto then cast his gaze back out into the calming sunset as he began to find peace once more. "You don't have to be alone, and I'm sorry for what you've had to go through...I know that I've said some bad things to you, and maybe you care or maybe you don't, but despite everything you can always come to me whenever you need someone."

"There are _things _about me that you don't know, things that you can never know...you'd definitely be better off staying away...and it's a lot more than just the secret I told you, that one is pretty tame. I only told you that because you deserve know the social penalty for being around me."

"Yeah? If you knew anything about me then you'd know it's almost impossible to change my mind once I've made a decision and I won't budge on this one! You're too interesting to pass up on."

"If you want, heh, you've asked me so many questions I think it's only fair that I ask you a few of my own."

"Shoot."

"Why are you doing this? With me...you never paid me very much attention before and now you want to be friends...and that was my first kiss, and I _hope_ it was your first too." Another lie, though it was his first that didn't happen on a mission when he had been on a mission.

"_The dare...oh shit." _Sakura didn't want to lie, but the real reason would seem extremely shallow, and learning about his past and how much suffering he'd been through in a life her desire to avoid causing unnecessary pain overode the desire.

"I suppose...that I was curious; you're probably the biggest mystery in the Academy, you know that? Most people don't know anything about you since...you are a little off putting with the way you act."

"I am what people want me to be; they want me to be different because it's okay to hate and fear something that you don't relate to, but once they can see that what they hate is human, like them, then they can't justify hating it anymore."

The response only served to further confuse Sakura, "But why?" who would _want _to be hated?

It was almost as if Naruto read her mind. "Because I am strong enough to handle it."

"It isn't fair: they hate you for something that the _Yondaime_ did to you! It's obviously done severe damage to your mind considering you have PTSD at the age of 13! No person can deal with that."

"Life isn't fair. I'm the first who could tell you that," Naruto looked straight into her green eyes with his own before he spoke with a deep conviction. "When people suffer they like to blame something for everything that has lead to the suffering, and if they didn't have me to blame then they would take their anger out on people weaker than me...their _own _kids."

That didn't sound like the Naruto she knew at all...it was oddly deep. It made her wonder how much of what people knew about him was part of some act in an effort to atone for a mistake that was not his own.

"...It's sort of like what you used to do with your hair, no offense."

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"I might have been weird but I was never blind: you used to hide your forehead using those bangs you used to have. I know you did that because of the taunting and how people expected you to look. That's originally what drew me to you at first was the fact that you were alone, just like me before Ino stepped into the picture...sometimes we do things just so the world can be content with us."

_Those_ days were the ones that had lead Sakura to Sasuke...being alone because of something beyond her control had lead her to becoming the person she was today, but in a weird way they were doing the exact same thing now that she thought about it: they both were conforming around what people thought they should be...not who they are or what they were.

Girls were supposed to grow up and impress guys like Sasuke, it just had been the expectation...just like they were expected to have small foreheads, brown or blonde hair, and most importantly of all they were supposed to be act like a caricature of a person in order to meet these expectations as opposed to someone who was different and deemed a loser...just like she had been all those years ago.

"Life isn't fair but when it _can _be it _should _be...I know how much you've done to fit in, but if you've really decided that you want to be my long term shrink or nag you can be as honest as you want...and Sakura, god knows if you don't want to make me more of a headcase you'll need to take care of that whole talking to yourself thing."

Naruto knew about her Inner Personality? "W-Was it really that noticeable" Naruto nodded, "You speak a lot louder than you think you do." her cheeks flushed in embarrassment at the thought of everyone noticing her talking to herself like a crazy person in class.

"I-I guess that we're _both_ messed up then."

If only she knew how much of an understatement that was.

"Yeah, you're right about that one. I can walk you home now, it's getting late."

The sky was completing the shift from the bright vibrant colors they had seen earlier into black with the only light being the full moon. Sakura smiled at him and nodded before jumping down from the head, as did Naruto.

Naruto felt a different mixture of feelings: it felt good having someone else knowing some part of his story, but what she knew came from a boy who had been swallowed up years ago. Fox was still who he was and she would never truly understand what he had done, but at the same time it seemed like she was unshaken and more sympathetic than ever after hearing about the Kyuubi.

Could he build a life off of a lie? The Hokage and Kakashi alluded to that when they decided to take away his old life and basically told him that Naruto Uzumaki was who he had to be, but at the same time they could not hope to remove everything that _they _built him to be.

Being a person was harder than being an ANBU operative: at least in ANBU they gave him clear missions with clear objectives, but all he had now was this pinky borderline civilian that he had been attached to as a child, and the promise of being on a team with Sasuke, and alotta problems.

How did civilians do it?

**Ichiraku**

"_Your mission is to bring Agent Fox into our service by any means necessary outside of kidnapping the boy himself. If you need to kill in order to complete this goal then fine, but if you happen to strike too close to the boy's heart then he might just pull the blade out and gouge your eyes out with it. We need our loyal asset back, not a broken man with nothing to lose."_

Agent Mongoose had studied the boy's psych profile and known public ties carefully, and this had brought him to the owner of a small noodle stand that cared very much about the boy who would frequent during time between missions and training. By killing him the intended effect would to draw the boy back in so he could try to solve said mystery, and by bringing the boy back in and exposing the Hokage's dishonoring of an agreement with the council beyond a reasonable doubt would cause a complete loss in confidence, and this would lead to Master Danzo rightfully taking up the Hokage mantle as the Godaime Hokage, and he would use the boy in order to win the war that was currently bubbling up within the Shinobi World.

Unleashing the Kyuubi on the enemies of the Leaf would be a crucial step in creating true peace that would be enforced by the Leaf and the Leaf alone as opposed to some treaty meant to appease disloyal traitors. _No_, this time they would have a weapon that allowed the Leaf to decide the terms of peace.

His target currently was alone, cleaning up the small stand that he had worked at for over twenty years. It was a shame really that his family legacy had to come into contact with Konoha's greatest asset, but the man had to die.

Mongoose exposed himself to his target by leaping from the street poll he had been watching from. The sound of his feet hitting the ground brought the focus of the man to the unexpected sound. His fear was evident as for every step that Mongoose took forward the man would stumble back.

When he stood at the stand the man had long since ran out of room. "Give me the money, _all of it_." Mongoose exclaimed, the robbery merely his facade, a reason for such a violent crime to take place. A dead end for the boy to get sucked into.

"H-Here, take everything, just don't hurt me." Teuchi opened the register and handed Mongoose all the cash that was in the current register. The ANBU tilted his head, "I said all of the money. I know you have a safe, and if I have to break into it I will be back and it won't be for you next time...It'd be a shame for Ayame to have to die over what you have hidden back there."

"You leave my daughter out of this bastard!"

"Crack the safe then."

Teuchi gave in and pulled out a safe that was hidden under the counter and began to enter in his passcode. With a loud click the safe was pulled open and Teuchi handed every single bill he had to the masked man. "This is all we have, just _please_ leave."

Mongoose dumped all the money into a small sack half-heartedly before pulling a small knife out of a seal he had on the inside of his palm and tossing it with much force towards Teuchi, killing him instantly. Mongoose then pulled the blade out of the body without touching the knife with his physical and he then stabbed Teuchi multiple times in order to sell the robbery.

Now that his mission now for the most part complete Mongoose used his chakra to bring the knife back to his gloved hand before he turned away from the dead man and open safe, feeling nothing at the sight of his bloody success, his motions almost completely robotic in nature.

**End**

**I hope this Chapter clears up some character questions as to why Sakura already feels some type of interest in Naruto and why he had been attached to her before his service in ANBU as he could see her as a kindred spirit in the very early days of schooling they had together when she would be picked on for her hair.**

**They aren't together: it's more like they both now have a close-to-understanding (obviously Naruto is still hiding a _lot_ from her and is allowing this all to fester as he views it as a part of his mission) and it's a start on something.**

**Mongoose will be a reoccurring bad guy as Danzo's primary agent, meant to cause as much emotional strife as possible without turning their key weapon into a Missing-Nin.**


End file.
